There is a small market on the ground floor of my office building. You might miss it if you walked by quickly. They only accept cash and their hours are 7AM-3PM. They have amazing sandwiches for dirt cheap – almost all of which are meat packed.

Recently, I’ve been opting recently for the only vegetarian sandwich on the menu which also happens to be delicious.

Helpful Equipment

Directions

2) Add a few tablespoons of vegetable or olive oil to a griddle or pan and add your onions, shrooms and peppers. Cook for a few minutes over medium-high heat until they are softened. Season with a pinch of salt.

3) Split them into to even piles and put your cheese on top of them. Turn heat down to low.

4) Slice pita in half and add it to your griddle cut-side down to it can toast lightly. Once toasted, flip and top one side of the pita with the avocado and tomato.

5) When your cheese is melted over the veggies, add the whole stack to the pita.

6) Top with sprouts and slice and serve.

Grilled cheese purists are probably not down with this sandwich. Some may say that it does not actually qualify as a grilled cheese because 1) it is on pita and 2) it has more “other stuff” than cheese.

I’ve opted to include it in the running though because it is original and unique and if I pile on enough cheese than I can still count it.

So let’s make them!

This is one of those recipes where it helps to get everything ready before you start cooking as it goes pretty fast. So slice up your veggies.

These are the base of the sandwich.

Slice your pitas in half. Also slice your tomatoes, avocados, and cheese separately since those don’t go on the grill right away. No need to chop the sprouts unless you just really like chopping things.

Plus get these ready.

Put a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil on your griddle or pan and throw your onions, shrooms, and peppers down. Get them all mixed up and happy together.

Get these guys cooking.

After just a few minutes, they will be cooked down. Split them into to even piles and put your cheese on top of them. I put my heat on low at this point to make sure I don’t burn the veggies under the cheese.

If you don’t have a big griddle like this, you can use a large saute pan. I actually made this sandwich again using a pan just to make sure you could (and because Betsy loved it so much that she requested it two nights in a row.)

See how the pita is down in the background? You want to do that. You can toast them open-faced in the oven also. Either way you do it, oil them slightly so they get a bit crispy.

Divided up for the sandwiches.

As your cheese melts, add your tomato and avocado to the inside of the pita. You want them to heat up slightly.

Avocado makes for good sandwiches.

Add your veggie and cheese mix on top of the avocado and tomato, top with a good layer of sprouts, cut the bad boy in half and enjoy.

Dreamy.

I have to toot my own horn here a bit and say that my version may have been better than the original #48. It is a bit spicy, has some crunch, and lots of different textures and flavors. Betsy proclaimed it better than the current leading grilled cheese. I’m not sure that I’m quite ready to make it the leader, but it is a damn tasty sandwich.

The ratings!

Cheesiness: 8. The cheese melts nicely because it is exposed more directly to the heat. Also, if you use pepper jack like I did then it is spicy also which is awesome.Bread: 8. The pita has a nice texture, but it can be a bit flimsy and tough to work with.Fillings: 10. There are a lot of fillings but they work really well together. It’s a great blend.Overall: 9. I think this tied the pesto sandwich. I think this is an interesting sandwich, but the pesto and brie is such a pure, awesome grilled cheese, I couldn’t rank this over that one.

Interesting, I eat a sandwich very similar to this all the time (except on a bagel) at home. The pita thing brings in a whole other dimension.

Next time you are in the mood for this I’ll give you some of the pita dough in my freezer to bake some fresh, they are amazing. (see Sara’s Pie Dough Fail post for a picture of 1 that “looks like it is having an allergic reaction to seafood” and 1 baking perfectly).

My favorite grilled cheese sandwich is peanut butter, bacon, tomato, onion, cheddar cheese and then grill it. I had a friend whose wife had to be the worst cook in the world bar none. This is the only thing she could cook that was edible and it was delicious. Make sure you use good tomatoes in season.

You know the blog, now know the book

Love Your Leftovers

Love Your Leftovers includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert options as well as a wide range of cuisines. Each main dish includes eight to ten creative recipes for leftovers. With chapters on kitchen and pantry basics and Meal Planning 101, as well as a helpful index of vegetarian and thirty-minute meals. This isn’t just a book you might like, it’s the book your kitchen (and family) need.